COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's basketball team took a lead into halftime on playoff-bound Johns Hopkins, but couldn't hang on to it as the Blue Jays dominated the second stanza en route to a 70-51 Centennial Conference victory on Saturday.
Each team came out firing, as the Bears struck first right off the tip. Sophomore Lydia Konstanzer pushed the ball forward for freshman Aliyah Stephens, who drove and laid in the first points of the ballgame. Konstanzer followed it up with a pair of layups of her own over the course of four minutes to make it an 8-8 contest.
Senior Rachel Guy sank a layup to put the Bears (9-11, 6-9) ahead 10-8 with 4:19 left in the first quarter before Stephens again drove the lane, scoring through a foul. She'd drill the free throw to complete the 3-point play to push the lead to 15-10. Stephens grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back to make it an 18-12 game with 1:31 left in the quarter.
Freshman Sydney Fail entered in the second quarter, immediately hitting a deep 2-pointer before classmate Marisa Morano hit a jumper of her own, making it a 23-16 game just less than a minute and a half into the second quarter. Fail struck again from deep, hitting a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 26-18.
Konstanzer's presence inside the paint was strong though the first half, as she sank another layup with 3:37 on the clock to make it 29-22. The Bears clung to a 31-29 lead at the break.
Despite shooting only 34.3 percent from the field through the first 20 minutes, the Bears refused to give the Blue Jays any chance on the offensive end, forcing 13 turnovers, including nine steals. Guy recorded three steals while Konstanzer and Morano each grabbed two through the first half.
The Blue Jays (12-7, 11-3) came alive in the third quarter, using a 15-4 run to pull to a 44-35 lead with two and a half minutes left in the period. Guy hit a 3-pointer with 1:55 left to make it a 47-40 game, and freshman Maya Kornfeld sank a long 2-pointer to cut a big lead to 52-42 at the end of the third.
It was much of the same for Johns Hopkins in the fourth, as the Bears weren't able to come back. Stephens finished a layup through contact to make it a 52-46 contest with 7:28 left. But Lillian Scott answered with a bucket for Hopkins, which went on a 9-0 run over the next five minutes and change to put the game away.
Konstanzer and Stephens each finished with 13 points, while Konstanzer tallied the double-double – her fourth in as many games – with 11 rebounds.
The Bears had no answer for Scott, who finished with 28 points to lead four Blue Jays in double figures.
The Bears stay in Collegeville and host Franklin & Marshall on Wednesday.